Editing Chemical weapons in World War I (section)

=== Effect on World War II ===
All major combatants stockpiled chemical weapons during the [[Second World War]], but the only reports of its use in the conflict were the Japanese use of relatively small amounts of mustard gas and [[lewisite]] in China,<ref>{{cite web |year=2003 |url=http://co.pinal.az.us/PubHealth/BDPR/history/history_b.asp |title=History of Chemical and Biological Warfare: 1901–1939 A.D. |publisher=Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response, Pinal County |access-date=30 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014111921/http://co.pinal.az.us/PubHealth/BDPR/history/history_b.asp |archive-date=14 October 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0208/timeline.chemical.weapons/content.3.html |title=1930s |publisher=CNN |access-date=30 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123153113/http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0208/timeline.chemical.weapons/content.3.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=23 November 2007}}</ref> Italy's use of gas in Ethiopia (in what is more often considered to be the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]]), and very rare occurrences in Europe (for example some mustard gas bombs were dropped on Warsaw on 3 September 1939, which Germany acknowledged in 1942 but indicated had been accidental).<ref name="HD.shtml" /> Mustard gas was the agent of choice, with the British stockpiling 40,719 tons, the Soviets 77,400 tons, the Americans over 87,000 tons and the Germans 27,597 tons.<ref name="HD.shtml" /> The destruction of an American cargo ship containing mustard gas led to many [[Air Raid on Bari|casualties in Bari, Italy]], in December 1943.

In both Axis and Allied nations, children in school were taught to wear gas masks in case of gas attack. Germany developed the poison gases [[tabun (nerve agent)|tabun]], [[sarin]], and [[soman]] during the war, and used [[Zyklon B]] in their [[extermination camp]]s. Neither Germany nor the Allied nations used any of their war gases in combat, despite maintaining large stockpiles and occasional calls for their use.<ref group="nb">The US reportedly had about 135,000 tons of chemical warfare agents during WW II; Germany had 70,000 tons, Britain 40,000 and Japan 7,500 tons. The German [[nerve gas]]es were deadlier than the old-style suffocants (chlorine, phosgene) and blistering agents (mustard gas) in Allied stockpiles. [[Winston Churchill|Churchill]] and several American generals reportedly called for their use against Germany and Japan, respectively (Weber, 1985).{{Full citation needed|date=March 2023}}</ref> Poison gas played an important [[Gas chamber#Germany|role in the Holocaust]].

Britain made plans to use mustard gas on the landing beaches in the event of an [[Operation Sea Lion|invasion of the United Kingdom]] in 1940.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/sixty-secret-mustard-gas-sites-uncovered-1335343.html |title=Sixty secret mustard gas sites uncovered |access-date=18 August 2013 |location=London |work=The Independent |first=Christopher |last=Bellamy |date=4 June 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/projects/dob/crom2b.html|title=Chemical Weapons against Invasion |publisher=Council for British Archaeology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709113825/http://www.britarch.ac.uk/projects/dob/crom2b.html| archive-date=9 July 2007 |access-date=30 July 2007}}</ref> The United States considered using gas to support their [[Operation Downfall|planned invasion of Japan]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Barton J. |last=Bernstein |date=August–September 1985 |title=Why We Didn't Use Poison Gas in World War II |journal=American Heritage |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=40–45 |pmid=11616497 |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1985/5/1985_5_40.shtml |access-date=29 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929120950/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1985/5/1985_5_40.shtml |archive-date=29 September 2007 }}</ref>